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Shapechanging Familiars: Familiars that can take various forms, such as the magical child’s animal guide, imps, and quasits, must have the same archetype for each form, and it must be legal for all of those forms (meaning if any form is an improved familiar, it can’t take archetypes that don’t stack with improved familiar).
The only reason to play this archetype is dead, now that Blood of the Beast introduced a Transformation Sequence social talent.
sorry, I fail to see why this talent renders Magical child useless.
I thought their familiar was the reason for this archetype
It’s very weak. Terrible spell list, and a familiar is much worse than an eidolon. The only way anyone could make it mechanically defensible was by applying different archetypes to different familiar forms. It still wasn’t strong, but it was at least interesting.
It’s very weak. Terrible spell list, and a familiar is much worse than an eidolon. The only way anyone could make it mechanically defensible was by applying different archetypes to different familiar forms. It still wasn’t strong, but it was at least interesting.sorry, I fail to see why this talent renders Magical child useless.
I thought their familiar was the reason for this archetype
I saw it as a (clearly unintended) way to apply one archetype to all forms, and get an improved familiar with Mauler, making it a full pet class. That said, it was already solidly in the “ask your GM” territory, so now it’s just a request to buff the archetype instead of a request to accept a certain rules interpretation.
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...You gave me an idea.
Far as I'm concerned, the magical child should have always had kineticist powers rather than summoner spells. So I'm ambivalent about this anyway.
Make a warlock and give them transformation sequence as a social talent.
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I think the Magical child was already a bit DoA. A terrible spell list with weak class features. I don't know how any designer thought that was a good idea.
Far as I'm concerned, the magical child should have always had kineticist powers rather than summoner spells. So I'm ambivalent about this anyway.
Should it be a kineticist archetype or a vigliante archetype, do you think? While social talents fit well enough it sits a bit uneasily with the rest of the vigilante class IMO.
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The thing annoying me about Magical Children is that it seems to advertise a Sailor Moon playstyle (Magical Girl, a blaster playstyle, with the familiar as sidekick at best), when in fact it's more of a 'mon show (Pokémon/Digimon, focus on the 'mon with the child acting as support/buffer, because that's what the Summoner spell list does... Except that 'mon show protagonists usually don't have dual identities, and the Magical Child just gets a squishy familiar (improved or not) as combat pet.)
So yeah, if you want to play a Magical Girl blaster, play warlock with Transformation Sequence and a regular familiar, if you want to play with 'mons, take any of the non-vigilante pet classes.
This thematic misstep is the second highest on my personal list of things in Pathfinder that cause me an irrational degree of irritation.
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Far as I'm concerned, the magical child should have always had kineticist powers rather than summoner spells. So I'm ambivalent about this anyway.Should it be a kineticist archetype or a vigliante archetype, do you think? While social talents fit well enough it sits a bit uneasily with the rest of the vigilante class IMO.
The material it's based on usually has secret identities, so being based on the vigilante made some sense. But having the summoner spell list feels like someone threw a dart at a board full of class abilities and picked whatever it hit. It doesn't fit thematically and doesn't do enough mechanically.
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I feel like the real death knell of the Magical Child was Blood of the Beasts letting any Vigilante (who can cast spells or SLAs, even from a race or a multiclass) take Transformation Sequence as a social talent.
The "you have a super-familiar" wasn't really part of the fantasy of the "magical child" character as far as I could tell, so you can just play the same character as a Warlock or a Zealot or a Cabalist and have a transformation sequence and a better spell list (or just play an avenger vigilante that punches people who's like an Aasimar or something.)
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It was already one of the worst archetypes the class got. Why kick it when it's already down, Paizo?
Agree that it should have had kineticist powers. Or at least something more like the Magus list.
Honestly even if you strip away the name, what exactly is the goal of the archetype? It gets a random smattering of conjuration and transmutation spells and... a familiar. I can't figure out what the vision for the archetype was.
I remember considering a dubiously-practical (and dubiously-legal) build that uses an identity change to shift faster than normal change shape. Any reason to do this falls apart when the familiar is not a competent member of the combat.
Honestly even if you strip away the name, what exactly is the goal of the archetype? It gets a random smattering of conjuration and transmutation spells and... a familiar. I can't figure out what the vision for the archetype was.
"We still need a vigilante pet class but are all out of ideas".
That's the only thing that remotely makes sense to me.
Wood Kineticist has a printed utility talent now.
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So, what did Ultimate Wilderness reprint and buff? I've heard Viking might have been.
The Viking appears pretty decent now, and it's my recollection that this was not always the case. But I think just due to the dynamics of how most of the new stuff comes from Player Companions, whereas the Hardbacks are the province of the Paizo Design Team (who tend to be more careful), most of the time you see things reprinted in hardbacks they are going to have abuses or loopholes closed and the really powerful stuff might be reduced in power.
That being said, a bunch of the new stuff in the book is great. I read the archetypes chapter and now I have like 9 new characters I want to play. Some of the new feats (like improved and greater spring attack) are positive additions too.
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What do the crummy summoner spells have to do with being He-man? If they were aiming for that, they weren’t any closer to the mark.
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Honestly even if you strip away the name, what exactly is the goal of the archetype? It gets a random smattering of conjuration and transmutation spells and... a familiar. I can't figure out what the vision for the archetype was."We still need a vigilante pet class but are all out of ideas".
That's the only thing that remotely makes sense to me.
Except in that same book was the Mounted Fury archetype, which is already a pet vigilante archetype.
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What do the crummy summoner spells have to do with being He-man? If they were aiming for that, they weren’t any closer to the mark.Ahem. He-Man merged with Sailor Moon. I already said that.
Except the Summoner spell list has nothing to do with with Sailor Moon either. (Well, maybe the anime version of Taxido Mask, the quickest motivational speaker in fiction.) Sailor Moon would be a blaster, not a buffer. You can replace Sailor Moon with He-Man, but that's because He-Man is essentially a magical boy show.
The 'mon show is where the "cheer for your combat pet to make it stronger" (buff spells) comes from. Even the multiple pet transformations might come from that (Digimon).
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Cringer/Battle Cat is really more of an animal companion than a familiar, in any case.
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While Pokemon may be able to be done with Improved Familiars (though this is only due to the magical properties of both, pokemon's combat roles are more akin to Animal Companions though...) Digimon with their many twisting and branching digivolution paths, are definitely more akin to Eidolons >.> just my opinion.
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Oh, I'm not saying it was done well, it's just the only explanation I have for the buff spells.
Side note:
Except in that same book was the Mounted Fury archetype, which is already a pet vigilante archetype."We still need a vigilante pet class but are all out of ideas".
That's the only thing that remotely makes sense to me.
That's a class that requires you to be mounted for several of its abilities. That's not the same as an independent combat pet.
Of course, they couldn't just give it a proper combat pet (because why play the original class then), so "transforming familiar" was the nerf they came up with.Or something. I'm just guessing.
What do the crummy summoner spells have to do with being He-man? If they were aiming for that, they weren’t any closer to the mark.Ahem. He-Man merged with Sailor Moon. I already said that.Except the Summoner spell list has nothing to do with with Sailor Moon either. (Well, maybe the anime version of Taxido Mask, the quickest motivational speaker in fiction.) Sailor Moon would be a blaster, not a buffer. You can replace Sailor Moon with He-Man, but that's because He-Man is essentially a magical boy show.
The 'mon show is where the "cheer for your combat pet to make it stronger" (buff spells) comes from. Even the multiple pet transformations might come from that (Digimon).
Except, I don't think a single one of the mon-masters has a secret identity.
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Lol. I can't believe I forgot that guy. Ok, so the Magical Child archetype is based off a minor bad guy of the Digimon franchise. Strange design choice.
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IIRC, Amanda Kunz (she wrote up all of the vigilante archetypes for Ultimate Intrigue) had no idea what a magical girl even was when she got the assignment. (I can't find her post where she discussed that, though. Huh.)
And so we got something that's cute but doesn't really fit with any portrayals. (And probably doesn't have an energy blast because of the overlap with warlock.)
Heh. My houserule fix is to just allow the player to pick their 1-6 list and they follow spontaneous progression no matter what list they picked.
(Wonder if that's the other reason they got summoner - because the other 1-6 spontaneous arcane list was bard.)
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Granted it technically does match the only consistent portrayals between the Magical Girl genre, and that’s a transformation sequence and cute Animal buddy. Everything else is different depending on which Magical Girl series we’re talking about (compare Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha to Card Captor Sakura).
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Almost every magical girl has a magical attack. And most of those attacks are either element or energy based and relatively strong to their universe. Basically, magical girls are blasters.
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@ Rysky - Hmmm. Yeah, that's fair.
We sort of got a low-powered Sakura - her power set is basically summoning tied to two artifacts (her wand and the Deck).
Sakura not having giant energy blasts makes her something of an odd duck, though. (I suppose she could summon an elemental card to do it for her, though.)
I'm going to guess that the warlock archetype already existing is why magical child didn't get an energy blast.
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I think of pokemon as full eidolons as well. This is not an animal companion.
But that's not a pokemon, that's an Ultra Beast :p
(Lorewise, they are specifically different than pokemon, mechanically they're the same)
Except, I don't think a single one of the mon-masters has a secret identity.
Yeah, I mentioned that in my original Magical Child rant above, too.
Otherwise, "Had no idea what Magical Girls are and thus based it on an complete outliner" actually does make sense. (I haven't watched much of Card Captor Sakura, but I remember hearing that her cute animal sidekick does transform into a battle form, so that fits, too.)
Still. Want to play a more typical Magical Girl? Warlock + Transformation Sequence (+ Familiar) has your back.
(Either way, it's also still second place on my "sources for irrational amounts of irritation, Pathfinder edition" list.)
Well, let's be fair, Mauler familiar does not get you a Kerberos. He starts off the size of a doll and then turns into a massive lion-like creature with wings and a fiery breath weapon....
Besides, I'm pretty sure he liked to hear himself talk.
Also, Magical Child can't have Mauler familiars anymore. Ultimate Wilderness says that transforming familiars must have a single archetype that is legal for all its forms - Mauler isn't legal for improved familiars.(Also, I vaguely remember that many of her cards were actually buffs...)
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A custom spell (or mythic/artifact ability, perhaps granted by the classic artifact wand) to temporarily transform a familiar into an set-form eidolon (or an animal companion with a few eidolon evolutions?) for a short period of time would probably be the closest way to model Kero under Pathfinder.
Especially if the power could be used reactively at the familiar's discretion.
Something I also just realized:
CC Sakura doesn't have a proper transformation sequence.
Sure, the key amulet transformed into a staff in a stock sequence, but the clothes? They were provided by her cosplay-happy friend, and she had to change outfits by hand.
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Well, let's be fair, Mauler familiar does not get you a Kerberos. He starts off the size of a doll and then turns into a massive lion-like creature with wings and a fiery breath weapon....Besides, I'm pretty sure he liked to hear himself talk.
Also, Magical Child can't have Mauler familiars anymore. Ultimate Wilderness says that transforming familiars must have a single archetype that is legal for all its forms - Mauler isn't legal for improved familiars.(Also, I vaguely remember that many of her cards were actually buffs...)
Setting aside the fact I loved the show for a moment...
Yeah, Magical Child is even less appealing to me now. Lot's of shapeshifting stuff just seemed to get nerf-nuked in the book.
** spoiler omitted **
Would you have preferred I linked Magnezone?
I probably would have accepted that more fully, but I'm sure it could still be done, I mean there are plant and vermin companions, I'm sure there could be construct companions. The real reason I suggested companions in the first place is because besides the magic (which I talked about with Improved Familiars upthread) the level advancements make for pokemon evolution better than eidolons do.
As for Pokemon cosmology